no makeup day

i woke up today feeling pretty icky. headache, stomache ache, freezing cold, and all that good stuff. so i took a nice hot shower, threw on a cami, shorts, and my rainbows, and threw my big comfy robe on over it all.

usually i can't stand sitting still, but today, i welcomed it. the gloomy day, rain hitting the ground, and appropriate attire, just made the day cozy and restful.

ryan and i are transitioning to his new responsibilities in the church. lots of prayer apart and together about the things that are coming about. a new opportunity popped up for me a few weeks ago and this past week, i got to learn more about it. we're in serious prayer about it. God continues to stir out hearts with the doors He opens.

healthy eating has become yummier for me as i have gotten creative with salads and found alternatives to dressings. switched to good fats and added avocados and a lil cheese, and then sprinkled it with lime juice and salt and pepper. mmmm....yum yum, good.

last week, i taught sunday school to 5 non-english Karen (from Burma) kids. i ditched the sunday school lesson that i wrote out about the beattitudes and taught about Jonah instead. To see if they understood anything i said, I had them draw pictures of the story...this is what they came up with. it made me smile.

ever since the beginning of our relationship, ryan and i established date night each week, every week. i always have and still look forward to it each week. We do anything from board games to bike rides for date night, with one thing consistent-it's the one night i don't cook. Ryan works it out every date night, and that's another thing that is just extra special our date nights. He makes date night just as special for me as if we had just started dating. I love that we've set that time aside for just him and me, and nothing else: no work, no phone calls, no one else-just us. since being here in storm lake, we've settled on monday nights as our date night.

Well, this past date night was kinda eventful. We settled on having pizza and then going on a bike ride to the lake. Ryan packed our gloves and baseballs and football in his back pack and we played catch.

beautiful day.

after all the throwing and catching, it resulted in a painful finger jam. my pinky finger got crushed and bent in a strange way from the football that my strong husband winged at me. i'm a big baby when it comes to pain and i crumpled over and started whining. needless to say, after my dramatic pinky incident, we laughed at the whole thing-even though pain was shooting up my hand from my lil pinky! who would have thought such a tiny body part could cause that much pain. ryan taped it up, and i wore my war wounds proudly:)

the kids at school asked me what happened to my pinky, and i told a few of them i'd lost it somewhere in the school (cuz it was bandaged in a way, where it looked like i only had three fingers), and they would look at me with total disgust on their faces (and then i'd laugh and tell them the truth). Some of the older kids wanted to know how i'd hurt it and i said, "playing football." I got advice from some kids that said, "Oh, ms. BB, that's why ladies don't play football!"

sorry kiddos. this one does:)

it was still a fun date night-i got to see my husband's care and love with how he listened to my whining and hugged me when i held out my hurt pinky, even when i didn't want him to touch it.

[shhhh...getting hurt or being sick is more fun when you're married. cuz even more sweetness and compassion comes out, and if you're like me, you kinda just roll around in it:) i love to be babied by my husband.]

ins and outs

of the brandenbergers:

we have been practicing healthy living

healthy living consists of:

well-balanced meals

laughing

playing together

discipline

priorities

exercising/working out

prayer together

lovin' each other

being active

reflecting on God's greatness

so much is happening in our lives, and we're so excited about it!

Summer is coming and we're pretty happy to be outside, running, playing and biking. in fact, biking has become our number one choice of enjoyment-especially when it's sunny and warm outside.

let's see, where to start.

Discipline in our lives has become a beautiful priority in our lives. our time in the day seems to multiply, when you discipline your self in all areas of the day.

[stopped on our bike ride to swing in big person swings:)]

discipline spiritually:

Since rooming with ilene, I'd gotten into the routine of waking up at a time each morning that allowed me to do my devotions without rushing. that is my most favorite time of the day, because i have my cup of coffee, Bible, cuddle blanket and my thoughts and time to process and pray while everything is still.

We've been prioritizing our times in prayer together as well. Ryan has been doing his devotions early in the morning, usually at the same time i'm doing it, and after we're both done, we use that time to pray with each other. our time together in prayer as deepened our time together and enriched us as a couple. I count it a blessing that we have prioritized prayer in our marriage, early in life, and have been consistent in it. As busy as we are now, i can imagine how much busier we will be in the future marriage years of children, schooling, and work, and allowing this priority of prayer to press into our marriage now, gives us a confident expectation of discipline to stay in prayer, even when the further years approach. it has definitely made our lives together more refreshing than it's ever been.

our lives has becomes one-and it revolves around worship to our Savior:)

[i thought it was a treat to see so many people out on the water today-fishing and boating! ryan kept warning me not to scare the fish away]

physical discipline:

Keeping ourselves in line physically started off difficult, but now has actually become fun. The winter months were alot harder to want to go to the gym and work out, but our hard work has paid off-and as the sun is getting brighter and warmer each day, it has become easier to exercise and enjoy it. along with working out, we've been spending alot of times outdoors, biking, walking around the community, playing catch or basketball-anything that gets us outside and moving.

eating well-balanced meals has been fun too. I love coming up with creative ways to feed my man well. Packing our lunches in the morning for work is kinda a treat for me. I like piecing the meals together and then opening it up at work to eat it-mmm...i like food:) We're eating everything we used to, but we're eating a good sized portion, as not over indulging in snacks and treats. We are being generous in our food intake with the fruits and veggies, but we have not forgotten the meats, dairy, and grains-after all, we love food! and good food! but we've also switched from white to 100% whole wheat and/or grain and choosing all natural or organic. I'm really liking this whole being healthy deal-it's kinda fun to do it, and i'm enjoying the nice change of clothing size:) i've lost 11 pounds thus far! (and without deprivation of anything i like!:))

[isn't this pretty? i was stunned when i took this picture-was not expecting it to look like this.]

We got rid of cable so that we could make the best of our times. too often, it was easy after a long day's work, to turn on the tv and stare at it. We found that it was affecting our time together, so we pulled the plug on it, so we could find more creative and productive ways of spending our time, rather than sitting in front of the tv. I like it. the shows we're following we're watching, but we're not just spending time flipping channels or watching sports all day. It's too easy to grow lazy sitting in front of the tv, and for me, it also drives me nuts to sit for hours and not do anything except watch tv. productivity and activity is definitely what i say yes too.

now with all this going on, we're happily enjoying what God places in our path. We are feeling healthier, and better, and more energetic. God's presence is evident, and we are witnesses.

[special marble with a very special story]

now this marble has a special story behind it, which will be for another time. For now, let me just use it as a symbol of the many open doors God has provided for ministry. He has given us an opportunity to ministry to a special person in our lives, and we will be asking you for prayer for it soon when we can share it.

another door God has opened, that we could use prayer greatly for-Ryan will be taking all the senior pastor responsibilities, starting tomorrow, as well as doing the youth director's work. the pastor of the church resigned, so until the church gets together a search committee, ryan will be leading the church. I will be doing alot of the youth ministry as well as my full time job, but we are very encouraged about the opportunity.

please keep us in your prayers!